Thursday Stuff

RIP Roger Ebert – I may have mentioned at some point earlier that I read “Life Itself” last year, and while the book went on for about 50-75 pages longer than it should have (could probably have done without a couple of his remembrances, though the stuff with Russ Meyer was particularly good), it still was a very interesting look at someone who ended up as a towering media presence over the last 40 years or so (also liked some of the remembrances of Great Britain as well as media colleagues).

I honestly don’t recall anyone doing movie criticism on TV until he and Gene Siskel came along, but now everybody and his or her brother does it on the tube, to say nothing of radio, the Internet including social media, etc. Ebert was also brutally honest in the book about how he tried to use some radiation procedure he read about on the Internet to get rid of his cancer, but it ended up weakening the bone structure in his face so that any surgeries to repair the ravages of the disease were unsuccessful.

Through his work, he ended up enriching countless lives including (I believe) my own. He will definitely be missed, and Think Progress reminds us of his importance here (yes, the timing of what he said about Ryan Dunn was absolutely awful, but his analysis was substantively correct…John Fugelsang had what I thought was a nice remembrance here)…



…and John F. talks to Michael Tomasky here about how common-sense gun legislation is passing in some states, which, while beneficial, is a poor substitute for federal action…



…and here is a clip from “All In” with a bit of "in your face" commentary on Guantanamo (more like this on this subject in particular...the show is definitely interesting – I wish Chris Hayes luck with it)…

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…and speaking of guns, here is a video of a song about a notable figure whose life was claimed by gun violence 45 years ago today.