Today I begin my involvement with the 2015 Index Card A Day Challenge with an appreciation of Martin Scorsese, one of the finest moviemakers of all time, 72 years old and just getting started. I wish I had done a Scorsese page while Roger Ebert was still alive; I could have sent it to him and hoped for a reaction. Roger idolized Scorsese and wrote a book about him. Alas, I waited too long…
One of my most prized possessions is an e-mail I received from Roger Ebert on April 3rd, 2010. He was telling me that I’d inspired a Twitter tweet of his, and he screen-printed the tweet for my perusal. I still have the e-mail in my Outlook Inbox, and so was able to take a screen print, thus:
Here’s the journal page Roger saw that inspired his tweet that compelled him to send the e-mail:
And here’s a link to another tweet, that awards Roger’s tweet Best Use of Antidisestablishmentarianism: https://twitter.com/kbeninato/status/11552988313
Lastly, here’s a Roger Ebert page I just finished today. It wasn’t the first Ebert page, and it won’t be the last. And let me make something clear: Roger’s generosity with his fans was thousandfold. What is a huge thing to me was something he did dozens of times a day. He read EVERY SINGLE THING his myriad fans sent him, and responded to an incredible number of them. I’m grateful for this tangible evidence that we interacted–it’s no coincidence that I’m doing this post Thanksgiving Day–but I’m sure that the number of people Roger similarly interacted with is well into four figures, if not five. And the number of people who miss him is in the millions.
Today I finished an abstract doodle with poetry and some coherent image. Here are the words:
Recurrence to motifs refer
Add frankincense and then de-myrrh
Note, Samson, how reliably
Delilah cranks your Model T
O sure as Hm is spell’d H
M Your actions will from that place stem
(Hm really is spell’d H-M, just like Sh is spelled S-H. This is an example of how, to make the acrostic fit AND rhyme, you have to go to the extreme of ending the line on the next line, which sounds impossible, but that’s what they said about the square root of negative one, about which, see one of my previous posts; sorry, its title escapes me.)
I am throwing in my Patrick Swayze portrait in remembrance of the late, great Roger Ebert, who years ago saw fit to bring it to the attention of his Twitter followers, bless him.
From A, Awake in the Dark, his wonderful collection of film essays, to Z, Z-Man, the unforgettable character in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, which screenplay Roger co-wrote with the equally unforgettable Russ Meyer–Roger Ebert lived an exemplary life. Much of that is thanks to C for Chaz, his other half. Yesterday Chaz described his passing as a Transition. Roger, I so hope it suits you. Farewell!
On Christmas Day, 2008, I sent a reply to Roger Ebert’s blog post that included a link to my sextuple-acrostic portrait of him. His reply, posted that Christmas night: Ebert: That manages to be touching and amusing at the same time. And awfully ingenious! Thank you. Since then he’s sent me a shiny new dime (long story) and declared me Second Place Winner in his Great Limerick Contest, awarding me a print of an Edward Lear etching and a copy of Lear’s The Owl and the Pussy-Cat. Now he declares via his Facebook presence: I’m aving a lot of health troubles that are keeping me from doing work and functioning online. Best person to contact is Chaz. Not in best of shape. So he is on my mind. The poor guy has been to Hell and back more than once (see my page); but his spirit is gigantic. I hope he does more than just get by this latest quality-of-life sandbar–I hope he makes it to tranquil coves.
One with Clay, Image and Text 