R.I.P. Roger Ebert ~ Movie Lover and Progressive Hero

There are really no words. Did you know that Roger Ebert was the FIRST film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize? I think many people forget that because he was a humble person and didn't blow his own horn too much.

I grew up watching Ebert and Siskel on our local PBS station. Back then we didn't have 500 reviews online for every movie. You either read an odd review now and then in the newspaper or you had to buy Newsweek or Time. So thanks to television and PBS, Ebert and Siskel because THE movie critics of America, the only ones who really mattered. I always stayed up after 11:30 to see their show on Sunday nights, even when my husband grumbled or if I had to be at work early on Monday morning. I enjoyed it most when they disagreed and got fired up about movies they cared about - that's what a real fan does, and above all, they were movie fans.

Gene Siskel was more of a macho guy who liked "The Deer Hunter," "Raging Bull" and "Saturday Night Fever", while Ebert was the nerdy, intellectual guy who loved nostalgia and Stephen King movies. I remember his review of "Star Wars" back in the seventies, talking about the "old universe" it portrayed, and the classic coming of age story - I couldn't wait to go see it after hearing his review.



I remember when my kids were little how much I appreciated it that Ebert would seriously review movies like "Babe" and "Free Willy" and "Toy Story." Before there was an internet, he introduced his audience to the work of the Japanese master Miyasaki, showing clips of "My Neighbor Totoro," a movie I would never have chosen for my children at the video store without his review. My kids went on to become Japanese movie junkies, and they may not realize that it all goes back to Ebert.

I also remember when he praised "Dirty Dancing," saying it reminded him of being young and in love, and I used his review to help my husband understand why I liked that movie so much. I remember he usually loved musicals, unless Madonna was the star, LOL.

But Ebert was more than a movie critic. He was also a Kick-Ass Democrat who campaigned for President Obama tirelessly last year on Twitter, and who made time each day to push Progressive causes that mattered the most. That's his most lasting legacy, I think. Cancer had stolen his ability to speak on television, but Twitter gave him a new voice and a platform with millions of new readers and fans. And now we all mourn the loss of a a great writer, communicator and powerhouse Progressive. But above all he was a really, really nice guy, certainly someone you would love to see a movie with, and go for a hamburger afterward to analyze every scene.

And like the movie heroes he loved, he was brave - he stood up for what he believed, and he fought cancer like a boss. R.I.P., Dear Critic from Chicago - I wish we had hundreds more just like you.

Roger Ebert's Last Column: "A Leave of Presence"
 
Fans and Celebrities React to the Death of Roger Ebert 

LA Times Hero Complex: A Look Back at 5 Fan Favorite Reviews by Roger Ebert

Angry Ann Romney

Poor Ann ~ she thinks "you people" should just leave her alone!!! Be gone! Stop it!

No, she's not talking about Democrats - she's talking about Republicans who are criticising Mitt, LOL. 

Listen to Ann: Audio Link Here

Radio Iowa

During an interview early this evening with Radio Iowa, Mrs. Romney directly addressed her fellow Republicans who’ve criticized her husband.
“Stop it. This is hard. You want to try it? Get in the ring,” she said. “This is hard and, you know, it’s an important thing that we’re doing right now and it’s an important election and it is time for all Americans to realize how significant this election is and how lucky we are to have someone with Mitt’s qualifications and experience and know-how to be able to have the opportunity to run this country.”
The criticism and very public hand wringing from Republicans comes as national polls show the race between Romney and President Obama is essentially tied.
“It’s nonsense and the chattering class…you hear it and then you just let it go right by,” she told Radio Iowa. “…Honestly, at this point, I’m not surprised by anything.”
Romney said her role is to be supportive rather than to give her husband advice about the campaign.
“We call the rope line now the advice line,” she said, laughing, “…because everyone cares and everyone wants to help and everyone wants to just give their peace — a little piece of advice — so I feel like my best advice is just to bring peace and calm to him and just trust in him and just say, ‘I know you can do it,’ but not to give him any advice because it gets too overwhelming.”

This fits with another piece of news today. In an article about 2 society sisters who are super-donors for Romney, one of them throws Ann under the bus:

My horse has more style and more class in its hoof than they do in their whole deal.
~ Ann Romney quoted by Lyn Mosbacher, a Romney large-money donor, via Washington Post

Thanks, Ann ~ we feel the same about your "whole deal," with the 47% hate and all that.

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The Right's Circular Firing Squad over Romney Campaign

I read news all day and half the night, and I can't keep up with all the negative comments directed at Mitt Romney from his own party. It's like when they aren't praising him and saying he can beat Obama, they are taking pot shots at him. Of course they hardly need to, since Romney's campaign shoots itself in the collective foot almost daily with the accuracy of Barney Fife.

But the loathing for their own candidate is incredible. Just the past few days we've had:

Rush Limbaugh calling Romney a "Placeholder"

A wealthy Republican donor calling Mitt a "Plastic Ken Doll"

Speaker John Boehner Saying People Can't Fall in Love with Romney

And let's not forget:

Rupert Murdoch of Fox Criticizing Mitt on Twitter

Today Media Matters for American published their own list of Romney criticisms coming from the Right:

What Romney's Right-Wing Revolt Tells Us About the GOP

This time it's the right-wing media that's taken upon itself to launch a running critique of Romney's campaign:
*Fox's Eric Bolling says Romney should fire his whole staff
*Fox's Brian Kilmeade suggests Romney has to "toughen up"
*Fox's Bill Kristol compares Rommey to Michael Dukakis and John Kerry and says he needs to "get off autopilot."
*Fox owner Rupert Murdoch tweets that Romney needs to shake up his staff
*Murdoch's Wall Street Journal editorial page eviscerates Romney's campaign team as being incompetent
*Fox's Laura Ingraham mocks Romney's jet-skiing ways
Did you spot the trend?
It's amazing how the conservative press feels completely empowered at this point to brazenly dictate how the Republican Party candidate ought to run for the White House. (No matter how kooky the suggestions.)

Media Matters points out that things have changed in a short amount of time, since the Party has yet to recover from the one-two punch of the Immigration and Health Care rulings of the Supreme Court.

. . . What must be so upsetting for conservatives is that up until recently Romney was basking in their praise and the right-wing media was crushing on the candidate. Last month, partisan players cheered when the Romney campaign sent staffers to yell and boo Obama strategist David Axelrod at a press conference, and when a Romney campaign bus drove round and round honking at Obama supporters. For far-right fans, those juvenile antics signaled determination and willingness by the Romney campaign to do away with etiquette and the type of simple decorum that conservatives were so angry McCain abided by in 2008.

"I'm telling you," Limbaugh announced on the day after the heckling spectacle,  "This is not the McCain campaign." The talker meant it as a compliment, as BuzzFeed noted how Romney was "uniting the right by playing the role of the bomb-thrower."

The admiration was flowing just a few weeks ago when Breitbart editor Larry O'Connor typed up quotes from Romney strategists about how wonderful and influential the right-wing media has become (especially Breitbart.com!) and how it was working seamlessly with the Republican candidate on messaging to defeat Obama.
But that has since changed. The Obama haters feel betrayed on key policy issues and by Romney's tepid response to the recent immigration and health care rulings by the Supreme Court.
The right-wing media complained loudly.  Message: They want their campaign back.

Rupert Murdoch Criticizing Romney on Twitter

My daughter pointed out some kind of shenanigan going on with Rupert Murdoch on Twitter criticizing the Romney campaign - not once, not twice, but several times over the past week, and not mincing words either. I didn't even believe it at first considering the week Romney has had with the immigration law mostly being struck down in Arizona and then the huge loss in the Supreme Court. Is he blaming Romney for that?

Shouldn't he be more, uh, supportive of the anointed candidate? Or is he trying to jump-start a candidate that he finds uninteresting. Sounds as if Rupert just met Romney for the first time at the big Chateau event in Utah. Frankly he doesn't sound too impressed. I wonder if Romney is refusing to take advice from Murdoch?

And to me that spells trouble for Romney if the Fox propaganda machine isn't behind him. Not that it bothers me, LOL - sounds great! Keep the criticism rolling, Mr. Murdoch!

Just read this:

When is Romney going to look like a challenger?Seems to play everything safe, make no news except burn off Hispanics.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) June 24, 2012

Easy for Romney to spell out restoration of the American dream and bash incompetent administration. But not a word!

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) June 24, 2012

Met Romney last week.Tough O Chicago pros will be hard to beat unless he drops old friends from team and hires some real pros. Doubtful.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012

US election is referendum on Obama, all else pretty minor.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012

Someone calls him out on the critical nature of his remarks, saying he shouldn't anger the Fox fans:

@rupertmurdoch - Do not fool yourself. @MittRomney has a 'GOOD CHANCE' of 'DEFEATING OBAMA IN 2012'. Don't anger your supporters.

— ROCKWITHBECK (@ROCKWITHBECK) July 1, 2012

@ROCKWITHBECKAgreed, but it's his to lose if he doesn't get on the front foot soon

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012

In the middle of all that, Murdoch talks about Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, since they are divorcing over Tom's obsession with Scientology. Then someone asks him about Mormonism. Weird stuff! I don't really know what to make of it, which is why I'm posting it here instead of on Snark Amendment. It's all quite cryptic.

Watch Katie Holmes and Scientology story develop. Something creepy, maybe even evil, about these people.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012

@shakircMormonism a mystery to me, but Mormons certainly not evil.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012