Roger Ebert died yesterday. I can't say that the thumbs up or down reviewing that made his name a household quantity had a particularly good influence on criticism, but his longer essays and interviews are quite good (cf., Awake in the Dark: The Best of Roger Ebert). Anyway, I grew up with him, starting with his and Siskel's PBS show, and have continued to follow him online, so pop culture won't feel quite the same without his presence.

One of the more fascinating shows about gender politics from the 60s, I Dream of Jeannie. In this episode, Tony (Larry Hagman) basically prevents Roger from raping Dr. Bellows' wife by molesting her himself in a closet. And he blames it all on Jeannie, making her stay in the bottle! J.R. isn't the biggest cretin Hagman ever played. He died yesterday.

People don't fuck standing up any more, nor do they fuck while driving cars. They certainly did in Tony Scott's Revenge, the perfect capstone to 80s cinema. So here's to the ridiculous sublime in his art. (And how about that clothes closet with billowing curtains?) He jumped off a bridge yesterday.