Roger Ebert and Life Itself

After many weeks in 2013 without a new Roger Ebert film review, April 3 brought relief when the Pulitzer Prize winning film critic announced a "leave of presence" to recover from another cancer.

His treatment would, he wrote, afford him time to focus on only the movies he wanted to see.

So today's afternoon news that Ebert died in Chicago took the wind out of me.

Tonight, reading his wife's quotes in the Chicago Sun-Times, Ebert's employer of 46 years, it seems the beloved critic was set to enter home hospice care (a sign he was closer to the end than the optimistic "leave of presence" notice led me to believe).

It's just sad either way.

Reading public comments about Ebert this afternoon, it's clear my stories and memories of the man are not unique. What a life he led!

Clicking on Facebook's "Like" feature took on a different meaning for many selecting "thumbs up" in tribute to Roger.

Many millions got to know Ebert as I did via PBS syndication of his review programs with Gene Siskel. Their review shows were among the few "adult" broadcasts of the late 1970s that my parents let me watch as a preschooler -- their review of the original "Halloween" movie with Jamie Lee Curtis remains seared in my brain (equally for the critique and the scary scene that led to my bedroom closets being open until teen years), as is SNL "Weekend Update" reporter Dennis Miller's mid-1980s announcement that Siskel & Ebert officially got renamed "the fat guy and the other one" (not respectively).

Ebert also made big brown glasses "cool" when my eyesight required lenses (about 1979). Reviews of "Tootsie" and "Thelma and Louise" stand out, as did the credits for their show, my early introduction to urban Chicago.

By my 1991 arrival at Minnesota State University at Mankato, I had more than a decade of Ebert critiques on the brain, and his style inspired not only a "great movies to rent" column for the MSU Reporter, but also my entry in to the mass communications program. My MSU friend Paul Rignell and I shared many Ebert-inspired chats (and spirited debates) as part of the campus film selection committee.

When my first girlfriend asked for Christmas gift suggestions, Ebert's 1993 review compilation was my No. 1 choice, and the more I read his columns (to complement the broadcast versions), the more inspiring the journalism track became (my home library now includes six Ebert review books and his excellent, inspiring autobiography "Life Itself," which I could not put down in early 2012 -- I cannot wait for a lucky filmmaker to turn this autobiography into a silver screen classic).

Ebert's website and blog served as inspiration for this Olympic blog (and occasional film blog) as well.

I love that he wrote captions for The New Yorker cartoon caption contest, entering many times before finally winning (reminiscent of the Olympic motto on the importance of taking part).

And speaking of the Olympics, Ebert also offered commentary of several Olympic moments including Beijing's and London's opening ceremonies. His notes on his Chicago's loss of the 2016 Olympic bid turned attention to other pressing matters for the city to tackle. He reviewed almost every Olympic-related film from "Olympia" to "Chariots of Fire" and "Cool Runnings" with panache.

And he could cook! This New York Times report about Ebert, by Atlanta-based food writer Kim Severson, is one I clipped and placed in the pages of "Life Itself" for future reference.

I am going to miss Roger Ebert.

Photos via the Chicago Sun-Times

Spotlight Chicago

On Thursday in Chicago, a small delegation of International Olympic Committee members arrived for their Evaluation Commission visit to assess The Windy City's potential as the 2016 Summer Olympic Games host.

Both the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times (and many other media outlets) have early reports on the IOC arrivals, including a photo gallery highlighting the IOC evaluators (for those reading in Atlanta, see if you can spot the former Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games ACOG executive in the Sun-Times' gallery -- hint: he has been in the "bid biz" since the late 1980s).

During the next few days, I will be volunteering with Chicago 2016 and Tweeting from the experience (twitter.com/nickwolaver) while posting on this blog as time and the scope of the volunteer assignment permits.

As I understand it, one of the "E.C." activities will be in progress as my afternoon United flight touches down at O'Hare -- the iconic John Hancock Center hosts a private sunset gathering in its newly refurbished Observatory from which guests can see four states and all of Chicago's magnificence (my girlfriend and I visited last summer and it is spectacular). (disclosure: the John Hancock Observatory is a client of Edelman, the P.R. firm where I work)

At least a couple of reports state that one Chicago "Big O" and our nation's "Big O" will meet with the world's "Big O" Games executives while they are in town. Oh, to be in the thick of Chicago's Olympic bid gives me big, oh ... um ... goosebumps.

Reminds me of this one time in Beijing when Chicago's Mayor Daley shared a few minutes in front of my Flip Camera to talk about the bid.

But seriously, the Olympic bid process is fascinating to me, and I hope to learn a bit more about the nuts and bolts of the effort while contributing to Chicago's Olympic bid team.

Anyone can volunteer or be a part of it with just a few clicks -- more than 1.1 million people already clicked their support, and many of them are following Chicago 2016 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/chi2016.

See you in the Second City!

The Silver Side of Sears?

Channel surfing tonight, my eyes spotted on Chicago's WGN a brief segment about proposed color changes for the nation's tallest building.

Further inspection online yielded this Chicago Sun-Times report on possible LEED Certification for the tower (the related online poll shows a slight lead for "no" -- don't paint it -- votes as of this post's upload time).

The photo above, as well as the rendering, are from the Chicago Sun-Times site and credited to Brian Jackson/Sun-Times, Sun-Times Illustration.

The Windy City's CBS affiliate also did a decent segment on this topic.

Apparently the selection of silver has zero relation to Olympic medals (no surprise), but rather the LEED rating system. Considering the apparent price tag of up to $50 million -- for PAINT (!!!) -- the whole thing gives one cause to pause and wonder whether they'd be using NASA-engineered (and priced) paint, or that Willy Wonka paint that's flavored with chocolate and snozberries (in either and ANY case, they'd have to repaint every few years, which seems expen$ive and $illy).

I'd personally rather see some of that money go toward Chicago's Olympic bid (here's a thought ... in honor of the bid, how about painting the Sears Tower's top few levels with the colors of the Olympic rings, which could easily be touched up when the city wins the bid, or painted over for later non-Games activities).

But one can appreciate the need for the building to make improvements, and the LEED designation looks like a step in the right direction. Obviously, the discussion is getting some new ink and air time for the iconic tower, so kudos those who are telling the tale.

One of my Edelman colleagues, Tony Wilbert, blogs about real estate, so will have to ask him for his two cents on this later this week.

In the meantime, will be thinking about that scene from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" in which Matthew Broderick & Co. leaned up on the glass from the observation deck to state, "I think I see my dad."