For a number of years I took film classes with Roger Ebert. It was right after college where my love for movies was immense. I know...I write about music, but it wasn't always that way. You know how college is supposed to be this wondrous time of musical discovery? I am convinced that I went to college during the least memorable time in the history of music (1994-1998). It was post grunge (I consider that period over that day Kurt Cobain died) and it was pre-Napster. The musical landscape was cluttered with loads of one and two hit wonders like Smash Mouth, Fastball, TLC and loads of other crap that never stood a chance of surviving. I'm not dissing anyone, but that 1990's is when albums really began to suck. Artists started filling cd's to their full space and even worse, they often only had one or two good songs. I spent my college years dissecting the entire catalogs of a handful of artists (U2, Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, KISS, Aerosmith, Rolling Stones, Beatles, Peter Gabriel)...and everyone else, well, I wanted to love it but it often felt disenchanted from the listening experience. So where did I look for answers? Film...
I've always loved the movies and watched Siskel and Ebert religiously even though I saw few of the movies they reviewed. In fact, I watched S&E more than I did movies when I was younger. But as I got older, I found myself delving into film more and more. I had them on in the background as I studied, watched them as I went to bed and often went to the theater whenever I could even if I only had a few free hours. Both Roger and Gene were a huge influence to me and are mostly why I write. Plus, being a Chicagoan did not hurt. Lonn Friend was a huge influence from RIP Magazine, but by the time RIP arrived, I had been watching Siskel and Ebert for a solid 8-years. In fact, I don't ever recall a time in my life where I didn't know who they were. They were integral to my upbringing and admiration of the arts. What I loved most was their unorthodox choices in film. They weren't afraid to champion the underdog...or shining light on a big budget film that deserved equal praise.
Gene Siskel passed in 1999 and I remember being at home on a Saturday afternoon and being devastated at hearing the news...I can't say I was shocked as Gene's appearance in the previous twelve months on the show has begun to show its wear and how he was losing an internal and biological battle. But his memory and legacy lives on.
So why am I writing all of this? Since Roger Ebert and current co-host Richard Roeper have been unceremoniously let out of their current TV contract, Ebert has been writing a blog for the Chicago Sun Times. In my opinion, it's some of the best writing of his life. Each week he tackles a different subject...sometimes about film and sometimes not. Regardless, it's fascinating reading, you can find his journal/blog here...make sure you bookmark it.
However, one recent post summed up why I write better than anything I could ever compose; "Critic" is a four-letter word
What I write, and Ebert as well, isn't about snobbery, it isn't about envy, it's about love. There's one part of the piece that I am going to paste below...
I believe a good critic is a teacher. He doesn't have the answers, but he can be an example of the process of finding your own answers. He can notice things, explain them, place them in any number of contexts, ponder why some "work" and others never could. He can urge you toward older movies to expand your context for newer ones. He can examine how movies touch upon individual lives, and can be healing, or damaging. He can defend them, and regard them as important in the face of those who are "just looking for a good time." He can argue that you will have a better time at a better movie. We are all allotted an unknown but finite number of hours of consciousness. Maybe a critic can help you spend them more meaningfully.
I don't really like the word critic (even though in a interview I gave in February, I was affectionately referred to as "The critic"). There's a negative connotation tied to it. I believe in writing...and if people like it, great, if not, that's OK too. It's really an opinion and it comes from my perspective and ultimately, I hope that my words can open a new world for someone. I don't want to force anything on anyone, but as Roger put it so eloquently above, I just would like to see people spend more waking moments with films/music/books that have more weight to them. Life is short to not be fully awake and to realize its full potential; I am just hoping to lead the way with some simple words about artists who touch my soul.
Read Roger Ebert's full article here.
I've always loved the movies and watched Siskel and Ebert religiously even though I saw few of the movies they reviewed. In fact, I watched S&E more than I did movies when I was younger. But as I got older, I found myself delving into film more and more. I had them on in the background as I studied, watched them as I went to bed and often went to the theater whenever I could even if I only had a few free hours. Both Roger and Gene were a huge influence to me and are mostly why I write. Plus, being a Chicagoan did not hurt. Lonn Friend was a huge influence from RIP Magazine, but by the time RIP arrived, I had been watching Siskel and Ebert for a solid 8-years. In fact, I don't ever recall a time in my life where I didn't know who they were. They were integral to my upbringing and admiration of the arts. What I loved most was their unorthodox choices in film. They weren't afraid to champion the underdog...or shining light on a big budget film that deserved equal praise.
Gene Siskel passed in 1999 and I remember being at home on a Saturday afternoon and being devastated at hearing the news...I can't say I was shocked as Gene's appearance in the previous twelve months on the show has begun to show its wear and how he was losing an internal and biological battle. But his memory and legacy lives on.
So why am I writing all of this? Since Roger Ebert and current co-host Richard Roeper have been unceremoniously let out of their current TV contract, Ebert has been writing a blog for the Chicago Sun Times. In my opinion, it's some of the best writing of his life. Each week he tackles a different subject...sometimes about film and sometimes not. Regardless, it's fascinating reading, you can find his journal/blog here...make sure you bookmark it.
However, one recent post summed up why I write better than anything I could ever compose; "Critic" is a four-letter word
What I write, and Ebert as well, isn't about snobbery, it isn't about envy, it's about love. There's one part of the piece that I am going to paste below...
I believe a good critic is a teacher. He doesn't have the answers, but he can be an example of the process of finding your own answers. He can notice things, explain them, place them in any number of contexts, ponder why some "work" and others never could. He can urge you toward older movies to expand your context for newer ones. He can examine how movies touch upon individual lives, and can be healing, or damaging. He can defend them, and regard them as important in the face of those who are "just looking for a good time." He can argue that you will have a better time at a better movie. We are all allotted an unknown but finite number of hours of consciousness. Maybe a critic can help you spend them more meaningfully.
I don't really like the word critic (even though in a interview I gave in February, I was affectionately referred to as "The critic"). There's a negative connotation tied to it. I believe in writing...and if people like it, great, if not, that's OK too. It's really an opinion and it comes from my perspective and ultimately, I hope that my words can open a new world for someone. I don't want to force anything on anyone, but as Roger put it so eloquently above, I just would like to see people spend more waking moments with films/music/books that have more weight to them. Life is short to not be fully awake and to realize its full potential; I am just hoping to lead the way with some simple words about artists who touch my soul.
Read Roger Ebert's full article here.
