tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13854278.post8858233399794268237..comments2023-09-08T05:54:51.568-07:00Comments on CineRobot: Life Itself by Roger EbertJoshua Blevins Peckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04675067672065084992noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13854278.post-21368264025713469782012-03-07T08:08:36.869-08:002012-03-07T08:08:36.869-08:00my dad always watched this (he didn't go to mo...my dad always watched this (he didn't go to movies...but he liked to know what was out there and going on! well, and the tv was always on anyway!) i remember seeing it a bit and usually seemed to agree more with siskel's ups and downs! my dad graduated from the u of illinois at urbana-champaign!hidden staircasenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13854278.post-32423171526367967822012-03-06T15:51:07.255-08:002012-03-06T15:51:07.255-08:00Yeah, there's a lot on Urbana in this one. I c...Yeah, there's a lot on Urbana in this one. I could see how that might give you pause due to the details that Ebert writes about regarding his home town. <br /><br />I really admire Ebert's attitude regarding his battle with cancer, so those sections were interesting too. I grew up watching Siskel and Ebert every week and have always had a fondness for Ebert. I'm glad I read this, but just wish he'd have skipped some of the chapters about what he can remember from Urbana or childhood or his teenage years. <br /><br />Loved the section on Steak and Shake!Joshua Blevins Peckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04675067672065084992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13854278.post-20076488639457964942012-03-05T22:20:35.741-08:002012-03-05T22:20:35.741-08:00I actually really liked it, but then again you cou...I actually really liked it, but then again you could probably throw me just about anybody's life story and I would be super-interested in it. i liked his frankness, and his thoughts about his face and what he can make of his life now etc. I like his humbleness and chat-away kind of style. True, there could have been more movie stuff in it, but i ddn't mind, I read so many movie books anyway. Plus he wouldn't have met many of those people that I am most interested in because they would have been a few decades earlier. I definitely enjoyed the chapters on Herzog and Mitchum. <br /><br />And what he can do with the very diminished abilities he now has. I know some about that, I had to get through a couple of my years like that due to health. Of course nothing like Ebert and not for the rest of my life. But still, a large lesson how to make much with very little, getting creative, using what you still have.<br /><br /> Strange too that my health crisis began/was at its worst in Urbana-Champaign. So strange that the worst three months or so of my life were spent there. I actually got quite anxious when I saw how much of the first few chapters were about all his younger years in Urbana-Champaign. The same town where the most horror-filled months of my life happened, that's where his memories of a happy childhood happened, so much detail, so much fondness. Once I'd gotten over the reluctance to expose myself to anything Urbana-Champaign, I found it neutralized some of my personal horror about that place.<br /><br />I enjoyed it a lot, and if I'm in more need of movie-related stuff, I'll just get my next book out.Evanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13854278.post-1512371492292771372012-03-05T21:33:06.323-08:002012-03-05T21:33:06.323-08:00Too funny. I finished it a couple of weeks ago, bu...Too funny. I finished it a couple of weeks ago, but just got around to writing about it. Did you like it? Did you find it as detail-focused as I did? I wish there would have been MORE film talk!<br /><br />I've got John Lithgow's memoir coming on audio book soon--I'll probably write a review of that one too.Joshua Blevins Peckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04675067672065084992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13854278.post-23221329315857979532012-03-05T21:26:22.804-08:002012-03-05T21:26:22.804-08:00Whoa, that's so weird. That's exactly the ...Whoa, that's so weird. That's exactly the very book I JUST finished reading last night (and brought back to the library today). I was just thinking of you last week some time during the chapter on Herzog and letting you know that there is a Herzog chapter in there, and here you are posting on that very book.Evanoreply@blogger.com