so i was watching whatever the hell that show that used to be called Ebert & Roeper (which was first called Siskel & Ebert) is now called this weekend to see what they had to say about this weeks films.  not that i generally trust Roeper and whoever his accomplice for the week is (although this week the accomplice was pretty good – i think it was the guy from The Village Voice), but if it’s on and i’m around, i’ll watch.  notably missing this week was an actual mention of whether the films in question actually got a thumbs up or down.  i mean it was pretty obvious from the review, but i kept waiting for that official thumb ruling.  i thought first that they must have changed the format and that they were going to recap with the thumb rankings at the end, perhaps to get viewers to hang in until the end credits.  no such luck.  no mention of thumbs anywhere.  my experience seemed a bit empty.

so yesterday, my boyfriend sends me this link to explain away our confusion:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070825/ap_en_tv/tv_ebert_thumb_ban

basically Ebert, on death’s door as he is wont to be over the last few years, has apparently “exercised his right to withold the ‘thumbs’ until a new contract is signed”.  geez man.  c’mon.  the show has been pretty respectful about putting in guest hosts, but never settling on even a “temporary replacement”.  he is often mentioned on the show and anyone over the age of, i don’t know 25 maybe? knows about his existence and his part in the “creation of the brilliance that is the thumbs up” (read: sarcasm).  how can you even copyright a thumbs up, weren’t people doing that shit casually forever before he put his name to it?  in fact, i feel like blaming him for actually starting this whole copyrighting nightmare (i.e. Trump wanting to copyright “you’re fired” and the myriad of idiocies before and after that).  stop holding on so damn tight Ebert.  let Roeper take it over already.  nobody is trying to push you out except the universe man.  just let it go. 

perhaps this is why being a critic instead of a creator is bad.  it eventually makes you be like this…makes you hold on to something you believe you invented because you slapped your name and logo on it, and you believe this because you never did anything creative and good in your whole life. 

now onto my next book review!  joke.